Hey all.
Been meaning to post this interesting bit of info for a month or two now so, apologies if someone has alresdy mentioned it in a thread somewhere.
On the music quiz show "Spicks and Specks" here in Australia they recently had Ross Wilson on who, at the time of the Sunbury 74 festival, was with a band called Daddy Cool. Anyway, he was talking briefly about the event and mentioned that the stories about Queen being booed off stage were completely false (Daddy Cool were at the event and he saw Queen that day). It seems that they did receive some heckling from the crowd but Wilson jokingly said a lot of long-haired bands of the time did, here in Australia. He went on to say that far from being booed off stage, they actually came back to play an encore!
So there you go. Ross Wilson seems like a level headed bloke so I've no reason myself to doubt his story. (He went on in the 80's to form a band called Mondo Rock, for all you music trivia fans).
I think the Sunbury gig has become a somewhat exaggerated urban legend.
I have an Aussie interview with Roger from 85 where he says it was more about the shambolic organisation from the down under arm of the record company. IIRC, when they got back to their hotel after the show, exhausted and ready for bed, there was a party under way and naked women in the swimming pool. The actual gig went over pretty well, except for the MC who tried to whip up enthusiasm for local bands by trying to make fun of the "pommy b*stards" and trying to sabotage their encore.
Whatever went down, Freddie vowed to never to return to Australia until they toured behind a number one record. Luckily that didn't take long, but it's clear Australia wasn't one of their favourite stomping grounds.
Yes Skyhooks got booed, it was indeed with an earlier singer, Steve Hill I think his name was (he has sadly since died of cancer, though I think he did a gig with them after Shirley died for a cancer benefit). Steve resigned from the band after reportedly "watching the video of the show" however no footage of the shows have surfaced except a few TV newsreels (with no Queen footage).
I live in Melbourne too, I've been chasing memorabila from this show since the mid 90's but almost nothing exists, I've met people who were at the show over the years and they have confirmed there were sections of the crowd booing, but of course many weren't booing too.
guild93 wrote:
Yes Skyhooks got booed, it was indeed with an earlier singer, Steve Hill I think his name was (he has sadly since died of cancer, though I think he did a gig with them after Shirley died for a cancer benefit). Steve resigned from the band after reportedly "watching the video of the show" however no footage of the shows have surfaced except a few TV newsreels (with no Queen footage).
I live in Melbourne too, I've been chasing memorabila from this show since the mid 90's but almost nothing exists, I've met people who were at the show over the years and they have confirmed there were sections of the crowd booing, but of course many weren't booing too.
Luke
I have only seen one photo of the band behind a van taken on the day...
Rubbersuit wrote:
Threads like this keep me coming back to Queenzone. Thanks!
No worries. I remrember recently someone was lamenting the fact that there was very little of real interest in the subject matters on this forum -which I have to agree with- but I felt this little piece of info was worth posting.
(my next post will be whether Hang On in There is a better song than Another One Bites the Dust ....just kidding)